Erica lingered for bit in the bathroom. Liliana had told her the day before not to try the cruciferous eyes smoothie, and at that moment she felt her gut saying "she told you so. She told you and you didn't listen to her, damn you!".

She opened the bathroom door and closed it quickly behind her, ashamed that other people smelled a whiff of what she had done in there. Then she walked through the soda fountain looking for Liliana, but she was nowhere to be found. Strangely, she went to ask the owner of the place, the same one who had served them their dishes.

—She left a while ago— he explained to the girl— she seemed to be in a hurry.

Erica did not believe it at first. She even thought that the noni was playing a joke on her, but he seemed indifferent, so much so that he just passed her the bill, nothing more. The girl looked at the numbers on the paper for a long time, without processing any of the information. After paying, she went out to look for Liliana.

On the street she looked in all directions, but found only nonis and a few human slaves, no short, long-haired girls. The anxiety rose through her stomach as different possibilities for leaving her crossed her mind. She stood for several minutes just watching, hopeful that the next time she turned her head she would find her.

After a good while she leaned her back against the wall and decided to wait for her there. Erica told herself that surely she must have had to do something, that she would be back any minute, that she couldn't have left her.

But she waited and waited, and no sign of Liliana. Soon an hour passed. Erica told herself she could wait longer, just a little longer, but then another one passed, and still nothing. Every minute there only served to dampen her spirits.

She had feared something like this would happen ever since she had hit her with her timitio. Liliana had abandoned her, had premeditated an occasion like that and taken the opportunity to run away. Erica hugged herself. She thought of the time they spent together after the blow. Still somewhat hopeful, she told herself that Liliana had had several opportunities to run away. But, after thinking about it some more, she realized that wasn't the case; until that moment, they had been alone in the desert or hanging out in a town. Erica realized that Liliana had probably been afraid to run away as long as she wasn't sure she could be safely escape from her.

—Did Liliana think I would go after her?— she wondered.

Erica wanted to tell her that she was wrong, that she would never do such a thing. She wanted to tell her that she had the right to go off on her own whenever she wanted, but she couldn't tell her anything anymore. She would never be able to talk to her again.

Suddenly a noni passed by and accidentally hit her shoulder with his elbow. Erica didn't think anything of it, although she noticed that the place was uncomfortable. She hadn't wanted to move in case Liliana came back, but...

She ducked her head, sad to realize that her partner wasn't coming back. Of course she wasn't coming back. Saddened, she left. She went to a nearby square and sat down on a bench to think things over.

—Lili left me— she said to herself, dismayed.

She remembered their conversations, their laughter, their arguments. They had only been together for two weeks, but it felt like half a lifetime.

She couldn't help remembering previous friendships. It was always the same; she would arrive in a new place, make friends, they would discover her strength and at first be excited about what she could do. Then they would realize that this strength could cause disasters, they would turn away from her, despise her and urge her to leave. When Erica tried to stay, the tension increased, contempt turned to abuse, and abuse was answered with violence. Erica looked at her hands, the same hands with which she had killed so many of her former friends, some by accident, some with satisfaction.

She sighed, overwhelmed. She had never wanted to hurt someone as loving, kind and pleasant as Liliana.

—Maybe it's a good thing she left instead of confronting me— Erica thought.

That thought didn't cheer her up one bit, but it helped her calm down and accept Liliana's escape.

She tried to remember her last friends, but she couldn't remember. Last year she had made good friends with classmates, but after a couple of accidents, they ended up hating her like all the rest. She remembered further back, but it was always the same. She didn't remember any friends, a good friend, someone with whom she could have shown herself as she was, someone with whom she wanted to share from time to time, who interested her as a person and not just for her looks. She was already 18 years old and she doubted she would find someone like that. Her friends were disappearing and her dad was hiding in an impossible place. Again, Erica was all alone.

She sat there for a long time, thinking. The sun changed direction, her stomach began to growl again and she realized that the world was still moving even though she was standing still. Fed up with all the contempt, she closed her heart and stood up, ready for anything.

At that instant, Papel emerged from her clothes, perched on her head and began sniffing her hair, as if looking for insects he could eat. This tickled her, but at that moment she didn't feel like laughing, so she grabbed him with one hand to separate him from her head.

—Not now, Papel. Come on, we have to find my dad.

-------------------------------------------

Accompanied only by the little animal, she wandered around the city without a clear direction. She knew that to find out the mage's whereabouts she would have to start by asking people, but the very idea of talking to strangers filled her with anxiety and made her nervous. After receiving three vague "I don't know"s she felt like she was going to pass out from exhaustion. It wasn't that she was tired, but something inside her was definitely gone and she would need some time to get it back. She liked to call it her "social energy".

She walked aimlessly, barely with a vague idea of her goal and with her social energy almost completely depleted. The pessimism that flooded her wasn't much help at the moment: things like "no one loves me or will love me until I die", "I'll never find my dad", "the Chainer will find me and kill me any of these days" made it hard for her to keep walking. The only reason not to get down on the ground and stay there was simply that she would get bored.

The sky was still purple, the buildings were huge, the nonis walked around swaying their ample bosoms and Erica felt she would never find her father. She was about to resign herself to self-pity for the rest of the day, when suddenly, a golden chain appeared from her chest.

At first he was puzzled. She tensed, thinking that the Chainer was nearby. She braced herself for a surprise attack, looked in all directions, but did not find him. Finally, she followed the chain with her eyes; it traveled through the air to the left. It was not taut, but it did not fall to the ground. Erica wondered if it was an illusion, so she reached out her hand and, to her surprise, caught it without a problem. Apart from the fact that it weighed nothing, it looked like an ordinary gold-plated chain.

Suddenly she noticed someone in front of her running with all his might. As she looked up, she noticed a human boy desperately running away from something, from the alley on the left to the opposite side. More importantly, Erica noticed that the other end of the chain was tied to his chest. The chain went with him, at the same time that two burly nonis went chasing after him.

Erica stood in place, puzzled. Then she shook her head, forced herself to react and ran after the nonis. She didn't want to make any hasty assumptions, so she jumped next to the wall of a building and extended the timitio from her hands like hundreds of needles to stick, like the bugs did. That way she gave herself momentum and jumped to the top. From there she followed the nonis and the strange boy. The chain disappeared in some moment of distraction. Erica looked all over for it, she thought maybe it might have come off her chest, but she doubted it.

—Never mind, I'll ask this guy later— she said to herself.

The nonis quickly caught up with the boy in the middle of the alley and began to beat him brutally. Erica thought at first that they were policemen in pursuit of a thief, but soon realized that they were nothing more than two thugs abusing a poor wretch. Without thinking about what she was doing, she jumped towards the nonis, grabbed their horns on the fly and smashed their faces into the ground.

The one on the right quickly shook off the blow and stood up to face her. The brika elbowd him, which threw him against the opposite wall and put him to sleep. The second tried to attack her from behind, but she grabbed his arm, propelled him over her head and slammed him to the ground with a mighty clatter. This time none of the thugs stood up.

Having finished with them, she turned to the boy. Then she noticed that he was quite battered from the beating: his nose and mouth were bleeding profusely, his right eye had a large purple mark and there was a nasty cut on his ear. Erica bared her teeth in surprise and some disgust, but the boy was not offended. Stupefied, he looked at the nonis lying on the floor, then at Erica. He asked her with his eyes if he should consider her a threat. His tense body showed Erica that he was prepared to stand up and run from her if necessary. She, in response, held out a hand.

—Gosh, you look awful.

The boy accepted her hand and stood up, still surprised.

—Thank you— he said.

—Come on, let's get you fixed up.

The boy stood there, not knowing what to do. Erica turned and looked at him for a while, surprised that he didn't follow her. Then the boy advanced towards her, but as he did so his eyes closed on their own and he fell to the floor like a plank.

—Ah?

Erica approached him, puzzled. She turned him around to look at his face and, relieved, realized that he was still conscious.

—What happened to you?— she asked him.

—Food...— he mumbled, weak.

—Food? Are you hungry?— Erica wondered.

—Very hungry— he answered.

She thought a for a bit whether she should help him or not, but seeing him so weak, that question became silly. She quickly carried him on her shoulders and took him to the top of a building, where the thugs could not find him. Then she went downstairs to a pharmacy to buy a first aid kit and then to a store to buy sandwiches and a bottle of juice. When she returned to the roof of the building, the boy was still awake.

—How are you feeling?— she asked him, as she set the first aid kit on the floor and handed him the bag of sandwiches.

The boy looked at the food as if it were a treasure. He didn't dare to ask, he simply opened the wrappers and put the sandwiches in his mouth, his eyes watering with emotion. Meanwhile, Erica disinfected his wounds and patched him up. When the boy finished eating, he resisted a sudden cry of joy with a long pout. Then he took a deep breath.

—Thank you— he said, his voice breaking— I was starving.

—Yes, I can tell. I don't remember ever seeing anyone eat so fast.

The boy looked at her with a slight smile on his face.

—You've already saved me twice, how can I repay you?

But Erica dismissed him with a wave of her hand.

—Don't think about paying me back. Although I'd like to know what you did to those nonis to make them hate you so much?

The boy ducked his head, remembering not so pleasant experiences.

—I parted ways with my former owner and he didn't seem to like it.

Erica nodded. She really just wanted to make sure she wasn't helping someone who deserved that beating.

—You were a slave?— she continued.

—Yes. I come from Mother, it's a world that was recently connected to the rest of the World web.

—Yes, I know. I also come from Mother.